Cruncher Chronicles: How Do You Decide Who to Marry?

by Cruncher


Inspired by this gem, Cruncher answered the following questions:

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY?

somebody that does not like yuck stuff ... somebody that has pretty hair.

WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?

21 because you um maybe when your'e 25 you're gonna have children.

HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?

by how they look. by how they talk sooooo boring, like teenagers talk boring, or like cool people talk boring. [Editor's note: "cool people" = hipsters?]

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?

that they look like they are my mommy and daddy and they're not strangers. [Editor's note: So, the only thing we have in common is that he looks like us, and we know each other. Cool.]

WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?

they do boring stuff like go to shops and read books at home while the kids are at a babysitter or their aunt's. [Editor's note: Sounds like a good time!]

WHAT WOULD YOU DO ON A FIRST DATE THAT WAS TURNING SOUR?

you could just drink it and just say "ewwwww, this trip's really sour!"

WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?

when ... when you marry them.

IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?

single because priests do that and God did that. [Editor's note: Ryan's THRILLED.]

HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN’T GET MARRIED?

you would just sit along the street and nobody would be with you and moms would have to have babies and the dads won't have babies. 

HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?

you would just say sorry to God and "I'm sorry that I married somebody." [Editor's note: i.e. Go to confession a lot.]

DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO ADD?

yeah. read it on my facebook! twitter! 

WE DON'T HAVE TWITTER.

okay. then don't write twitter.

D.C. Phone Home

by Shannon


We left off in Morgantown. A junior brewer at Morgantown Brewing Company had given us a coffee shop recommendation for the next morning, but we discovered the entire downtown is paid parking. We had no coins, and the coin machines weren't working, so Ryan ended up driving around the block a few times so I could go in and grab us some emergency lattés. The third hotel probably had the nicest rooms out of all three of our stays, but (again!) there was no breakfast included with our stay. Coffee is a must.

Hanging out in the last hotel lobby as Daddy packed the car.

So, we made our way to Charleston, West Virginia. What a lovely place! We had lunch at Pies & Pints, which was absolutely fantastic. Probably top-three pizzas we've ever had.

We walked around their quaint little downtown, enjoying the sights.

DOH! Department of Homer

Before the final trek home, we stopped off at our final destination — Ryan and my alma mater.

Morehead State University, Founded 1887

Ryan and I thought we'd best show Cruncher where his parents fell in love before he gets too angsty and cool to care.

The infamous gargoyle pose, with Cruncher standing in for Paul.

Oh, we actually started out at the Old School House Antique Mall in Farmers, Kentucky, before we headed down the highway to Morehead. Ryan and I spent many Saturday afternoons there back in our courtin' days. While we were there, I picked up Amy's early birthday gift — a vintage purse. Ryan actually found it (he's well-trained). They also had a BEEAAUUTIFUL Our Lady cameo, and I very much regret not making it my own.

Engagement-photo pose reenacted nine years later, shot by Cruncher.

We ate at our favorite Italian restaurant ever, Melini Cucina, where Ryan and I ordered our standard — fettucini alfredo. And then we were fat, happy and ready to go home. (For more Morehead pictures, click here.)

G'bye, Morehead!

And our creepy little guy slept with his eyes open, per usual.

That there ends our D.C. trip recap. It only took me about five weeks to post all six days. Thanks to Jen for the inspiration to write every day this week so I can try and catch up our readers on the summer happenins.

Tomorrow: Cruncher's 6th birthday!!

The Spotless Bride

by Ryan

"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." 

– Ephesians 5:25-27

If a list of "top readings at any wedding you are likely to attend" were compiled, this reading would probably take a backseat to only one other reading: 1 Corinthians 13 ("love is patient, love is kind...") and you know the rest. Yet, when reading all of Ephesians 5, another view becomes more clear — marriage as a mystery that is ultimately revealed in the relationship between Christ and the Church. The husband, of course, represents Christ, and we are the Bridegroom, the Church, which is presented to Him "...holy and without blemish."

That is a hard pill for the modern Catholic to swallow — if the number-one challenge for the Catholic (or perhaps this Catholic) is to be joyful in these often bleak times, then number two has to be the ability to view the Church as holy. After all, how "difficult" would it be for us to enumerate the scandals that have befallen us in the last ten years alone, let alone our entire history? And that doesn't even count the abuses in the liturgy and Catholic education and ... you get the picture. We have lots of problems, and we are right (as individual Catholics) to not turn a blind eye, but rather to face these scandals when they occur in our communities.

In light of these bleak realities in the Church, I would like to present another reality often neglected (or purposefully ignored): any human institution, across a long enough time line, will disappoint. The members of such-and-such political party and such-and-such religion will provide fodder for criticism if given enough time. The seemingly utopian, secular ideologies of the last two centuries have resulted in some of the greatest bloodshed yet witnessed by mankind. Even through his best-laid plans and well-meaning ideas, the human desire for power, control and prestige always sneaks in the back door of the crystal palace, turning our dreams into the substance of nightmares.

So who do we trust? If God exists and is the source of our life, then we must trust God. If God does not exist, then we must continue to try to solve what has confounded us since the dawn of our existence — what meaning or purpose do we have in a world where our lives are the result of some random, cosmic event or other seemingly unexplainable phenomenon? And if we cannot define or discover this meaning, to what end do we live our lives? To be successful? In what way? And how can we even say that what we have done has true meaning? Not everyone can make a scientific discovery or win a lifetime achievement award ... many of us just cut hair, or launder clothes, or pump gas, or work toll booths, or at Wal-Mart (see, purgatory does exist!).

A life in Jesus gives us meaning — we are children of God. We are to love and worship God, who has given us our being, and to take care of his creation, be it other men, animals, the environment, etc. Life in Christ gives us purpose — to help all of creation return to the God who created them out of selfless love. This is a life that anyone can take part in — it does not exclude the least or greatest among us, but challenges us all in ways appropriate to our calling. We can be called the Spotless Bride because God, who is Love, loves us into existence and sees our merits even when we cannot. Peter Kreeft expresses this sentiment more beautifully than I can in his book, Heaven:

"When you read a verse from the Song of Songs in which the bridegroom says "Behold, you are all fair, my love; there is not a spot or wrinkle in you," (Song 4:7) do you think this is delightful but foolish? That love is blind? Then you are looking at love, not with it, and looking at it as something pathological: a blindness. The lover insists on exactly the opposite: that he is not blind, that he sees something that is really there. Not the lover but the loveless one is blind; he sees only the caterpillar, while the lover sees the butterfly... God believes in our butterfly, hopes for our butterfly, loves us as butterflies. We see the present sinner; God sees the destined saint. Dare we call God a fool? His judgments are not blind but clear-sighted, accurate and exact. Love is the highest accuracy. How can love be blind? God is love. Is God blind? (p. 37)"

While we tend to focus on our faults, and often the faults of others, the above image is greatly encouraging, as well as intensely challenging. Can we, like God, view the world through eyes of love, when so many terrible things have happened? If God can, then we must try. We must truly love all, regardless of race, beliefs, orientation, and — perhaps most importantly — whether or not they love or respect us. That is our charge, to love God's begotten back into His everlasting arms: to stop viewing man as the caterpillar dwelling near the soil, but as the butterflies of the meadow, gliding on the gentle breeze of God's presence.

See anyone you know? Give it a shot!